CHAPTER 10 - AQUACULTURE
(10-A) - Global Perspective - [A1]
Aquaculture Production -Global, [A2] Aquaculture Growth,
(10-B) - Regional Perspective - [B1]
Asia, [B2] China, [B3] Japan, [B4] Israel, [B5] North America, [B6] South America, [B7]~ Europe, [B8]~ Australia, [B9] Africa,
(10-C) - Types of Aquaculture - [C1]
General, [C2] Salmon, [C3] Shrimp,
(10-D) - Aquaculture Inputs - [D1]
Land, [D2] fish food, [D3] Water,
(10-E) - Environmental Impacts - [E1]
Miscellaneous, [E2] Diseases and Parasites, [E3] Backlash, [E4] Regulation, [E5]~ Pollution, [E6]~ Genetic Degradation, [E7] Toxic Contaminants in Farmed Fish,
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SECTION (10-A) - Global Perspective - [A1] Aquaculture Production, [A2] Aquaculture Growth,
[A1] - Global Perspective - Aquaculture Production -
Global aquaculture production more than doubled in weight and value from 1989 to 1998 (
01G1).According to a Senior FAO Fisheries Officer, 90% of aquaculture today is done in developing countries, and that sector produces over 36% of the world's food fish supply - up from 7% in 1970
("Farming fish in a sustainable way for the future", Aquamedia, 12/23/03).Aquaculture output: 6.7 million tons in 1984; 20.9 million tons/ year in 1995, not including aquatic plants. Aquaculture increases since 1992 have averaged 2 million tons/ year (98W1).
Aquaculture Production by UNFAO Regions (1983 Data) (88B2)
(Production in units of in 1000 tonnes/ year)
Between 1987-97, global production of farmed fish and (plus) shellfish more than doubled in weight and value (Ref. 1 of Ref. (
00N1)).For every 5 kg. of beef produced world-wide, there are now 2 kg. of farm-raised fish (98M2). Comments: These are probably dressed-weights, not raw-weights.
Aquaculture production: 7 million tons in 1984, 23 million tons in 1996 (98M1).
70% of aquaculture production is fin-fish; 24% is mollusks, and 6% is shrimp and other crustaceans (93K2).
Production of farmed carp in 1999 increased by 840,000 tonnes to 14,900,000 tonnes, representing 44.7% of total production. China, Indonesia and Bangladesh contributed greatly to the increased production. Salmon increase of production: volume was 1,390,000 tonnes, up 100,000 tonnes more than 1998 or 580,000 tonnes compared with 1994. Production of farmed salmon in 1999: 798,000 tonnes (up 110,000 tonnes) for Atlantic salmon, 475,000 tonnes of trout and 89,000 tonnes of Coho, of which 76,000 tonnes were produced in Chile (
01F4). (For details for specific countries and species see http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews)The bulk of aquaculture production comes from species that feed low on the food chain. Among finfish, carp, which generally feed on plankton and plants, accounted for nearly 70% of world production of cultured finfish in 1999. Commanding low to moderate prices, such fish tend not to be traded internationally (
03W2).Even by the end of the 1990s, a relatively small number of species (less than 40) accounted for 90% of the volume of world aquaculture production (
03W2).Total aquaculture production of finfish, crustaceans and mollusks amount to 29 million tonnes/ year (plus 8 million tonnes/ year of seaweed) (in 2000?). However the net volume of fish flowing to human consumption through aquaculture is, at most, 19 million tonnes/ year after ocean fisheries capture for fish feeds is subtracted (
00N1). Carp and marine mollusks account for more than 75% of global aquaculture output, and tilapia, milkfish and catfish contribute another 5%. These fish are fed mainly on herbivorous diets (00N1).The global total of aquaculture-produced marine commodities was 33.3 million tonnes in 1999 vs. 30 million tonnes in 1998, and 1990's total of 13.1 million tonnes. The total has been rising by almost 2 million tonnes/ year during 1996-2000 (
01F4).Fish (including shellfish) produced from farming activities account for over 25% of all fish directly consumed by humans (
00N1). Comments: Farmed fish are rarely used as fishmeal, etc. that is consumed indirectly by humans.More than 220 species of finfish and shellfish are farmed (
00N1).China produced 22.79 million tonnes, 68% of total world production of farmed marine products (
01F4).Production: 10 million tonnes (1984); 25.5 million tonnes (1994), Value: $40 billion) (UNFAO data).
Aquaculture was a $36.2 billion industry in 1995 ($9.5 billion in 1984) (98M2).
Aquatic-animal husbandry produces nearly 13% (by weight) of all directly consumed fish and the like (and a larger fraction of consumption in terms of dollar-value of catch) (88B2).
Aquaculture production = 12.7 million tons/ year in 1991 (16 million if aquatic plants are included) (6.7 million tons in 1984 without plants) (Ref. 22, Chapter 5 of (94B3)).
Shellfish, Finfish and Aquatic Plants Produced by Aquaculture in 1995
Despite accounting for 63% of total aquaculture production in 1994, freshwater output was worth only 50% of the total value of aquaculture output of $33.5 billion. Marine species accounted for 30% of total value of aquaculture output. Brackish water production was worth 22% of total aquaculture output, largely due to shrimp and prawn (Ref. 32 of (98W1)).
Shrimp farming is a $6.3 billion industry that spans 50 countries (98M2).
Worldwide, 10.4 million tons of carp were farmed in 1995 -nearly 50% of all aquaculture production (98M2).
Aquaculture Output (1000 tonnes/ year) of Leading Countries in 1980 (85B1)
Aquaculture Production by FAO Regions (1983 Data)
(88B2) (in tonnes)Aquacultural Output (1000 tonnes/ year) in Leading Countries in 1980 (85B1)
Nearly 40% of salmon consumed today have lived in captivity for most of their lives, compared to 6% a decade ago (98M2).
40% of mollusks (including oysters, clams and mussels) have lived mostly in farm environments (98M2).
Freshwater aquaculture contributed 17 million tonnes of fish in 1997 (99F3).
Since 1990, freshwater aquaculture has more than doubled its yield, and now accounts for 60% of global aquaculture production ((
00W3), p.104).65% of freshwater fish have lived mostly in farm environments (98M2).
One third of global shrimp, prawn and salmon production comes from aquaculture (Ref. 36 of (98W1)).
Fish raised in ocean pens and inland ponds or tanks: 9.2 million tonnes in 1984; 14.2 million tonnes in 1990 (93K1).
As of the mid-1980s, fish farming accounted for 9 of the 75 million tonnes of global harvest (85B1).
Aquaculture yield: 6 million tonnes of food in 1975, roughly 10% of the world production of fishery products, and double the 1970 yield (81C1).
[A2] - Global Perspective - Aquaculture Growth -
Total value of farmed aquatic products (global): $25.6 billion in 1989; $52.5 billion in 1998 (
00F3).Aquaculture is growing more rapidly than all other animal food production, according to the UN FAO. Its contribution to global seafood supplies increased in volume from 3.9% in 1970 to 27.3% in 2000 and to 29% in 2001. Aquaculture production, including aquatic plants, reached 45.7 million tonnes worth $56.5 billion in 2000. Worldwide, aquaculture has increased at an average compounded rate of 9.2%/ year since 1970, vs. 1.4%/ year for capture fisheries and 2.8%/ year for farmed meat production (
03W1).During the 1990s, global aquaculture production increased 10%/ year, rising from a 1990 level of 13% of world fisheries production (excluding aquatic plants) to 26% nine years later (
03W2).Farmed fish supplies totaled 29 million tonnes in 1997, vs. 10 million tonnes in 1987 (Ref. 1 of Ref. (
00N1)).Under favorable conditions, aquaculture could supply up to 39 million tons of fish by 2010 - 70% more than today (UNFAO estimate, (98M2)).
From 1984-97, aquaculture production in marine and brackish environments tripled and continues to expand rapidly (99F4).
Aquaculture has been growing 10%/ year worldwide in recent years (90U1).
Aquaculture is expected to grow at a rate of at least 1 million tons/ year for the foreseeable future (Ref. 12 of (98W1)).
Aquaculture has become one of the fastest growing food-production activities in the world, according to the UNFAO (Ref. 15 of (98W1)).
Aquaculture is growing at 800,000 tons/ year (Ref. 86 of (94W2)). 28 million tons of fish/ shellfish were produced on farms in 1994 (96W1).
In the last decade, aquatic-animal husbandry has grown faster than have captured fisheries and livestock husbandry (88B2).
Since 1992 aquaculture growth has been 2 million tons/ year. The FAO projects that growth will slow to 0.8-1.4 million tons/ year, reaching 27-39 million tons/ year in 2010 (Ref. 30 of (98W1)).
Aquaculture output has grown at 11% annually over the past decade and is the fastest growing sector of the world food economy. By the end of this decade fish farming will overtake cattle ranching. Both oceanic fisheries and rangelands are reaching their productive limits. During 1950-90, beef production almost tripled and the oceanic fish catch more than quadrupled. Since 1990, there has been little growth in either beef production or the oceanic fish catch (
00W2).SECTION (10-B) - Regional Perspective - [B1] Asia, [B2] China, [B3] Japan, [B4] Israel, [B5] North America, [B6] South America, [B7]~ Europe, [B8] Australia, [9] Africa,
[B1] - Regional Perspective - Asia -
The seafood sector has become Vietnam's third-largest earner of foreign exchange. Shrimp exports alone reached $780 million in 2001. In 2001 the area devoted to shrimp nearly doubled to 4460 km2. The Ministry of Fisheries hopes to expand that to 5000 km2 by 2005. Vietnam's shrimp exports grew 10.7%/ year in the first 6 months of 2002, but grew just 4.4%/ year in dollar value. The price of Vietnam's favored species - black tiger shrimp - has declined by $3/ kg. over the last 3 years (
Margot Cohen, "Sweet and Sour Shrimp", Far Eastern Economic Review, www.feer.com 9/02).At the beginning of the 1990s, Asia provided 83% of the world's total volume of aquaculture production, and by 1999 that share had risen to 89%. Most of the increase was attributable to China, whose share of the world's aquaculture production increased from 50% in 1990 to 68% in 1999 (
03W2).Asia accounts for roughly 90% of global aquaculture production (
00N1).85% of fish farming is in developing countries (
00W2).Fish and Aquaculture in Asian Diet (88B2)
(1987 Populations [Col.2] in millions) (Production data are in million tonnes/ year)
[B2] - Regional Perspective - China -
Between 1990-96, China's fish pond yields increased from 2.4 to 4.1 tons/ ha/ year (Krishen Rana, "Changing Scenarios in Aquaculture Development in China,", FAO Aquaculture Newsletter, Aug. 1999, p. 18).
China remains by far the largest aquaculture producer with 71% of the total volume and 49.8% of the total value of aquaculture production (FAO data) (
03W1).Aquaculture production: 2.5 million tons in 1984; 12.8 million tons in 1995 (Ref. 33 of (98W1)).
China accounted for 2/3 of world aquaculture output in 1998, with 21 million tons of fish (
00W2).Between 1990-96, China's farmers raised the annual pond yield/ hectare from 2.4 tons of fish to 4.1 tons, producing mostly carp in either a fish poly-culture (several varieties of fish at different levels of the food chain) or growing rice and fish together (
00W2).Of China's record 24.4 million tons of fish production in 1995, over 50% was from fish farms (98W1).
China plans, by 2010, to double its area under fish-cultivation to 70,000 km2 (as compared to its grain area of 857,000 km2) (98M2). (la)
[B3] - Regional Perspective - Japan -
Aquaculture: 100,000 tonnes/ year (1970); 500,000 tonnes/ year (1975) (___).
Japan produces high-value species such as scallops, oysters, and yellowtail (
[B4] - Regional Perspective - Israel -
Almost half of Israel's finfish is derived from aquaculture (81C1).
[B5] - Regional Perspective - North America -
Alaska, the state with the longest coastline, has altogether prohibited net-pen- and cage farming in coastal waters to protect native wild salmon populations and the human communities that depend of them (
01G1).By live weight, U.S. aquaculture production in 1998 was roughly one billion pounds (445,000 tonnes) (
00F3) with a value of just under $1 billion - up 44% since 1991.U.S. aquaculture production is 1.1% of global production by weight, or 1.6% by value (
00F3).US Aquaculture Production by Species, and Growth since 1989 (
00F3). (Production (Col. 2) is in metric tonnes.)In Mexico the number of shrimp producers nearly doubled between 1993-98. Along Mexico's west coast, shrimp ponds have replaced cactus forests with more than 50,000 acres (202 km2) of brackish ponds ("
Prawn But Not Forgotten", Grist Magazine, 7/18/02).The Broughton Archipelago (a complex of islands north of Vancouver Island, near Port McNeill and Alert Bay) has been targeted by fish farm operations because of many sheltered inlets and abundant, clean water (
01R1).Aquaculture production: 300,000 tonnes (1994) Farm-gate value: $0.75 billion (UNFAO data).
Production of farmed fish: 168,000 tons in 1984; 333,000 tons in 1994 (97F3).
The US produces mostly catfish (
00W2).Aquaculture has been growing 20-25%/ year (90U1).
Farmed salmon is now Maine's second most valuable seafood product after lobster, with farms here producing 29.2 million pounds of the fish in 2001 at a value of $58.2 million. Maine farms produce the most farmed salmon in the US - about 3 times as much as farms in Washington state - but only about 1% of the 2.5 billion pounds produced worldwide by the salmon farming industry (
03R1).Aquaculture production in 1975: 65,000 tonnes - 3% of US fish- and shellfish landings. But this amount still constituted (in 1975) 25% of US salmon production, 40% of US oyster production, and 50% of US catfish/ crawfish production (81C1). US catfish production (via aquaculture): 360 million lb. in 1989; 1 million lb./ year in the 1960s (90U1).
US Private Aquaculture Production (in millions of pounds of live-weight/ year)
(SAUS* of around 1992, using data from US Dept. of Agriculture, Office of Aquaculture)
[B6] - Regional Perspective - South America -
Chile and Canada account for 94% of Atlantic pen-reared salmon, valued at $818 million. During 1990-95, sales of Alaska salmon to Japan amounted to more than $1 billion/ year, hitting $1.56 billion in 1992. Since then, annual sales have fallen to $707.8 million in 2002 ("
Labor Department: Farmed fish sinking Alaska fishermen", Anchorage Daily News, 10/14/03).The No. 2 and 3 aquaculture producers, Peru and Chile, produced a total of 16.5 million tons, but much of this was high-volume, low-priced, small, pelagic species that are used largely for animal feed (98W1).
Approximately 60 national and foreign salmon companies operate in Chile, now the world's second largest exporter of farmed salmon after Norway, and provider of nearly half the salmon consumed in the US (
02U1).Chile has now displaced Norway as the world's number one salmon and trout producer, according to Norwegian statistics, reports Peter J. Neilson. Latest figures show that in 2001 Chile produced more salmon and trout than Norway. Chile slaughtered 501,00 tonnes of salmon and trout in 2001, while Norway only reached 477,000 tonnes ("
Chile displaces Norway as biggest world salmonid producer", Fish Farmer Magazine www.fishfarmer-magazine.com 11/13/02).Brazil produces 40,000 tonnes of shrimp per year. It exported 22,000 tonnes in 2001. The shrimp is farmed in area covering 11,000 ha, but Brazil is thought to have over 300,000 ha. available for coastal farming ("
Shrimp farming banned in mangroves" (Brazil) www.FIS.com 10/25/02).[B7] - Regional Perspective - Europe -
Norway produces mostly salmon (
00W2).In 1981, the output of Scotland's salmon farms was barely 800 tonnes. In 2000, 340 farms produced 127,000 tonnes (
The Economist, www.economist.com, June 23/01).Salmon farming is one of Scotland's biggest food exports and employs 6,500 people mainly in the Highlands and Islands (
02M1).Bluefin tuna "farming" has emerged, with the Spanish as the European leaders. The tuna are captured live, placed in cages off the coast of Murcia in southern Spain. Bluefin tuna farming is increasing pressure on smaller fish species, such as anchovies and sardinella, which are sold to the farms to feed the tuna. Bluefin tuna stocks are over-exploited. A predicted collapse is possible in the near future. The European Union (EU) could take action to stop over-fishing of bluefin tuna and regulate its farming, but is being lobbied heavily to support the industry (
02R2).[B8] - Regional Perspective - Australia -
Australian is working to boost aquaculture production value to AUD 2.5 billion/ year by 2010 (
01F1).Australian aquaculture is growing 13%/ year. In 1998-99, aquaculture production was worth AUD 604 million. The year after it was worth AUD 678 million, and by the middle of 2001, the industry estimates it will be worth AUD 800 million (
01F1). For a copy of the discussion paper, contact Aquaculture Action Agenda Taskforce at fisheries@affa.gov.au[B9] - Regional Perspective - Africa -
Recently aquaculture production has expanded rapidly in Africa, but it is essentially Egypt that has accounted for the expansion. In 1999 Egypt accounted for 80% of total African production, estimated at 284,000 tonnes. Conceivably, tilapia and carp could be sold in the rest of Africa, but this is not likely to happen for two reasons. Egypt depends on imports to keep up fish consumption and the average consumer is wealthier than most potential importers in the rest of Africa. Thus, future increases in aquaculture production of carp and tilapia are likely to enter the Egyptian market rather than being exported to other African markets (
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SECTION (10-C) - Types of Aquaculture - [C1] General, [C2] Salmon, [C3] Shrimp,
[C1] - Types of Aquaculture - General -
The main impediments to fish farming are a lack of investment capital in poorer countries, limited land and fresh water resources and concerns about environmental impacts. "The limit on wild harvests is creating pressures on fish farming, and catches of fish for fish meal have hit a plateau. "Production of fishmeal and fish oil has remained flat, while demand has grown, with aquaculture consuming 35%. "50 million tons of farmed fish was eaten in 2004, vs. 66 million tons harvested from the wild. (Another 38.5 million tons of wild fish are used for meal, fish oil etc.)
("Farms: Output Grows Closer to Matching Fishing Harvests," New York Times, 9/4/06.)Palmaria palmata, or dulse could soon become the latest success in Scotland's seafood export industry. In the deep-sea lochs of remote northwest Sutherland, fish farmers and scientists are experimenting with new techniques to cultivate the delicate brown seaweed (
Paul Kelbie, Scotland Correspondent "Salmon farmers cultivate seaweed as the vegetarian oyster", The Independent, www.news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=430338 8/4/03).The culture of tilapia took off at the end of the 1990s, growing in volume by over 10%/ year. It is likely to maintain that rate at least for the next two decades. Tilapia is a relatively inexpensive fish, and it can be used as an ingredient in processed products. By 2015, production volume could be 3-5 million tonnes/ year, increasing to possibly twice that amount by 2030 (
03W2).Carp account for about 70% of the world's cultured production of finfish although they are produced in only a few countries (China, India and Indonesia account for more than 90% of world production.) (
01F3) (03W2).The trend in aquaculture now is to raise carnivorous fish such as salmon and shrimp, which require large inputs of fishmeal and oils that add pressure on the seas (
01H1). Comments: Carnivorous fish tend to be consumed by people in the developed world, while non-carnivorous fish (carp, tilapia, catfish) tend to be consumed by people in developing nations.Farmed shrimp and salmon industries provide food mainly for industrialized countries, consume vast quantities of wild fish as feed, and generally do not generate long-term income growth in impoverished communities (98N3).
Two distinct sub-sectors of aquaculture have emerged over the past decade:
However, many small-scale farming operations are intensifying as land- and water resources become increasingly scarce and valuable (Refs. 4 and 5 of Ref. (
00N1)).[C2] - Types of Aquaculture - Salmon Aquaculture -
The aquaculture industry now produces 600,000 metric tons of farmed salmon annually - 300 times greater than the annual catch of wild salmon (
01M1).Salmon aquaculture provided 250,000 tons in 1990 (25% of total production) (Ref. 105 of (94W2)).
Farm-raised salmon account for 50% of global salmon sales (7% in 1986) (Wall Street Journal, 9/9/96).
Salmon farms in Chili now supply 5% of the world's salmon harvest after 10 years in business (93K1).
Pen-Reared salmon production (tonnes) (88L1)
[C3] - Types of Aquaculture - Shrimp Aquaculture -
Shrimp farming produced 500,000 tons in 1990 (25% of the total supply) (Ref. 105 of (94W2)).
Farmed shrimp is produced mainly in developing nations for markets in developed nations, at a global value exceeding $6 billion/year (Ref.2, 3 of Ref. (98N3)).
Globally, shrimp and salmon (both carnivorous species) make up only 5% of farmed fish by weight, but almost 20% by value (Ref. 2 of Ref. (98N3)).
World production of farmed shrimp: 163,000 tons in 1984; 720,000 tons in 1992 (93K2).
During the 1980s, cultured shrimp's contribution to the global supply of shrimp rose from 2% to over 25% (93K2).
Farm-shrimp production: 54,000 tons in 1980; 108,000 tons in 1994 (96W1).
SECTION (10-D) - Aquaculture Inputs - [1] Land, [2] Fish Food, [3] Water,
Coloring agents are included in the pellet food of farmed salmon because, deprived of its natural diet of krill and shrimp, the flesh of a farmed salmon looks an uninviting shade of gray (The Economist, www.economist.com, June 23/01).
[D1] - Aquaculture Inputs-Land -
27% of the total area of fish farms constructed in Ghana thus far has been abandoned. About 20% of Ghana's fish farmers have abandoned their vocation ("27% of Fish Farms Abandoned - Minister", www.ghanaweb.com, 8/23/05).
Fishponds last for no more than 8 years before the many chemicals and antibiotics that are poured into them in the process of raising shrimp make them unusable (04B1).
In the past ten years, scientists and economists have begun using "ecological footprint" models to account for the total land and natural resources required to produce a commodity, or maintain a certain standard of living. An ecological footprint gives a rough idea of the efficiency and sustainability of an enterprise by including all the inputs required and wastes generated. When applied to industrial shrimp farms, the model shows those operations are not more efficient over the long term than people fishing with nets and canoes. Each acre of shrimp pond in an intensive operation requires 35-190 acres of healthy mangrove to provide the raw materials (shrimp larvae, fish food, and clean water) and process the wastes it creates. When the inputs and wastes are factored in, the net production of edible protein produced by intensive shrimp farms and mangrove forests, acre for acre, are roughly equal ("Pacific Coast Communities Confront Shrimp Farm Threat", Wendy Call, 36(6) May/June 2003).
50,000 km2 of China's land is devoted exclusively to aquaculture. An added 17,000 km2 are a combination of rice and fish production (K. J. Rana, "China" in Review of the State of World Aquaculture, FAO Fisheries Circular No. 886 (Rome, 1997)).
Mexico plans to expand aquaculture from 200 to 2000 km2. The main wetlands affected will be fragile coastal wetlands like mangroves, lagoons, estuaries, etc. (99M6). (la)
Even under the best of circumstances, the average shrimp farm that receives intensive management is only good for 10 years (98M7).
Between 1985-95, 1500 km2 of shrimp farms were abandoned worldwide (Ref. 120 of (98M7)). (la)
Commercial fish farms are expanding rapidly, especially in Asia, taking up thousands of square miles of coastal land. The "footprint" of a farm - its influence on the local environment - can be up to 50,000 times larger than the physical farm itself. Shrimp farms frequently displace rice paddies. Saltwater from inland shrimp ponds can seep into nearby soil and reduce rice yields (http://www.fao.org/fi/default.asp http://cesp.stanford.edu/).
Fish Farming Yields with Varying Intensities of Cultivation
(tonnes/ha/ year) ((85B1) from data of R. T. Lovell et al)
Practice - - - - - - - - - - - - - -|Carp |Channel catfish
Fertilized ponds~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | .39 |0.37
Feeding grain or grain by-products~ |1.53 | - -
Feeding grain + high-quality protein|3.30 |3.0
supplement feeds (fish meal or soybean meal)
Some Fish-Farming Yields (tonnes / ha/ year) (93K2)
Tilapia in Africa~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | 100. |(93K2)
mussels in Spain ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | 300. |(93K2)
Carp in Japan (running water)~ ~ ~ |1000. |(93K2)
Carp in Japan (more typical) ~ ~ ~ | few~ |(93K2)
Carp in Germany~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | ~ 0.5|(96W1)
Crawfish in flooded La. rice fields| ~ 0.56|(96W1)
In a pond 2 meters deep, experienced farmers may raise up to 10 tons of fish/ ha/ year (98M2).
The European salmon-farming industry requires a marine support area for feed estimated at 40,000-50,000 times the surface area of cultivation, and equivalent to about 90% of the primary production of the fishing area of the North Sea (Ref. 6 of Ref. (98N3)). Consequently it depends heavily on fishmeal imported from South America (98N3).
The life span of intensive shrimp ponds in Asia rarely exceeds 5-10 years (Refs. 7, 8 of Ref. (98N3)). Conversion of extremely degraded pond areas to other agricultural uses is often not economically feasible. Rapid expansion of shrimp farms has caused socioeconomic problems such as dislocation of poor coastal communities, and has degraded wide coastal areas, including mangrove forests and other wetlands (Refs. 7, 8 of Ref. (98N3)).
A system in which crawfish feed in rice fields after rice harvest has produced 32,000 tonnes of crawfish on 140,000 acres (97W1) (0.23 tonne/ acre (per year?)).
Poly-cultural systems of mussels, several species of carp, and crawfish have produced as much as 4.4 tonnes/ acre (/year?) in India and Israel (97W1).
Globally, nearly 50,000 shrimp farms cover 9842 km2 of coastal land (96W1). (la)
About 2/3 of aquaculture production comes from inland fish culture in rivers, lakes ponds and buildings. The rest is coastal - grown in bays or open ocean (93K2). Comments: Often mangrove swamps or estuaries are converted to aquaculture, and this entails a reduction in catches of wild fish species (Ref. 23, Ch. 5 of (94B3)).
Thailand's mangrove forests declined from 3127 km2 in 1975 to 1689 in 1993. (Ref. 36 of
(00P1)) Another estimate gives a loss rate of 57.2 km2/ year. (Ref. 37 of (00P1) - see plot in (00P1) covering 1961-96). (la)In Thailand, shrimp farms covered 1103 km2, or 64% of the total mangrove forestland in 1987. Experiences in Thailand, as well as in Vietnam, show that shrimp farming is unstable in terms of yields. The first few crops normally have high yields because of the quality of the land and water. After a few years Thailand's shrimp farm yields decline because the aquaculture environment - especially the water - deteriorates (
00P1). By 1996, Thailand's shrimp farms decreased to 670 km2. As a result of the failed aquaculture, several large tracts of Thailand's eastern and southeastern coasts are deserted (00P1). (la)A 10-acre catfish pond about 4 ft. deep can hold 60,000 fish which take 18 months to grow to a marketable 1.5 lb. Most such farms cover 300-700 acres and net $500-$700/ acre (93K2).
During 1985-95, 1500 km2 of shrimp farms fell into disuse worldwide (98M2). The average fish pond is good for about 10 years, but for high-density shrimp ponds, typical pond lifetimes are about 5 years (98M2). (la)
[D2] - Aquaculture Inputs - fish food -
Intensive aquaculture is relatively young at only some 30 years old. The growth of aquaculture has been estimated at a rate of 10-15%/ year for the past several years. The Foreign Agricultural Organization predicts that by 2030, more than half of the fish consumed is likely to be farmed. This projected growth will only come about, however, if feed development can keep pace. (
Continued below)In 1989, the aquaculture feed industry used 10% of the global fishmeal production. Today it accounts for 34% of the 6.5 million tonnes of fishmeal produced annually. This level is expected to rise to 48% by 2010, based on the predicted growth of aquaculture especially carnivorous species that require high-protein feeds and the transition of aquaculture in the developing world, particularly in China, to formulated feed. China accounts for 70% of the world's aquaculture and is rapidly modernizing production. Because of pollution and disease problems, Chinese aquaculture, with the encouragement of the government, is progressively replacing the estimated 3-4 million tonnes of "trash-fish" it currently feeds, with pelleted feeds. Even at conservative projections, Chinese aquaculture will consume at least 30% of the total fishmeal supply by 2015, a proportion not much lower than the consumption by the whole of the global aquaculture industry today. (
Continued below)Thirty million tonnes of mostly inedible, bony fish and trimmings from human food grade fish are used in the production of fishmeal. While tightening quotas and increasing demand for fish for human direct consumption will reduce the amount of catch available for fishmeal, by-catch, which is currently discarded, will become more available as pressure is brought to bear on fishermen to land everything in the net. Additionally, trimmings from aquaculture are a growing source of raw material (
Continued below).Feed accounts for up to 50% of an aquaculture farmers costs: Canada's National Grains Bureau has estimated the potential market for high-gluten wheat in the shrimp feed industry at 500,000 tonnes/ year. However there is scope for a much higher use of grains and grain derivatives as fishmeal replacers. Wheat gluten contains 70-80% protein that is highly digestible to rainbow trout, Coho salmon and other fish species. Up to 25% of fishmeal can be replaced with wheat gluten without negatively impacting growth or feed conversion ratio in aquaculture. Wheat gluten however is expensive since it is produced as a high-end, human food-grade product. If less expensive, feed-grade wheat gluten were developed, this ingredient could become an important aquaculture feed ingredient. Farmed tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) fed a diet with 72.2% of the total protein in the feed coming from soybean meal and wheat products, performed as well as those fed fishmeal-based diets. In the US, farmed catfish diets typically contain 45-50% soybean meal, with less than 10% fishmeal
("Aquafeed: A growth market for grains," World Grain, 12/1/02.).Fishmeal is used in feeds for a variety of farmed animals including poultry, pigs and fish. In 1998, compound aquaculture feeds -pelleted fish foods - consumed more than 40% of total fishmeal production (the equivalent of 20 billion pounds of forage fish) and over 75% of the world's fish oil - shares that have increased markedly in the past decade (
00T1). However total world fishmeal and fish oil production has not changed significantly in recent years (00F2) (00T1).Replacing fish oil by vegetable oil substitutes may decrease fish growth rates, change fish flavors, and reduce the concentration of healthful omega-3 fatty acids in some species (
98A3) (00H2).Most harvested forage fish stocks are already fished to their maximum, and the average trophic level of fish raised in aquaculture is rising (
01P2). Several stocks such as krill and certain mesopelagic fish could be further exploited if the price of fishmeal rose high enough (97F6) (00F4). Increased catches of forage fish would reduce the amount of food available for predators such as large fish, marine mammals and seabirds (00N1).Fishmeal prices have risen over the past several decades (
01F6), and could double in coming years (00H2). (Feed is the largest cost component in many intensive aquaculture production systems.)Estimated 2000 Fish-meal and Fish-oil Use in World Aquaculture (Production figures (Col.2, 3, 4) are in millions of pounds.) Col. 3 = Production using Compound feeds. Col. 4 = Wild fish Used in Compound feeds.
Column 5 = Ratio of Wild Fish to Fed, Farmed Fish. (
Nearly half the food given to farm-raised salmon is composed of fishmeal: ground-up anchovies, jack mackerel and other wild species found in the waters off Chile's 3,000-mile coastline. "For every kilo of salmon grown, you need 3-5 kilos of some other fish. Industry officials have tried to reduce dependence on wild species by mixing fishmeal with vegetable proteins. Today, fishmeal accounts for only 40% of feed ingredients. Industry attempts to further limit fishmeal have led to jaw deformities. Fishmeal is also indispensable to produce omega-3 fatty acids - the much-touted health component shown in numerous studies to counter heart disease
(Anton Daughters, The Tucson Citizen, 8/2/04).Carnivorous species such as salmon, trout, turbot, sea bass and cod require a high-protein diet. Today this is supplied mainly by feeding them fishmeal made from cheap wild fish including sardine, anchovy and mackerel, which can still be caught in huge numbers near the ocean surface. Each kilo of farmed salmon is estimated to take three kilos of wild fish for feed. A more straightforward course is to grow more fish that are natural herbivores or omnivores, such as tilapia, catfish and carp
("How fish farming could feed the world" Editorial, The Financial Times, 1/13/04).Krill has particular value for salmon farmers as it contains astaxanthin - a carotenoid that turns salmon flesh an appetizing pink (
03O1). Incentives to use this natural pigment in salmon feed have risen recently due to consumer concerns over an artificially produced alternative. This year the European Union cut permitted levels of canthaxanthin (a coloring agent added to the feed of farmed salmon and trout to enhance the color of the flesh) by two-thirds after research revealed it could cause eye damage (03O1). Biotechnology could place similar pressures on krill. Drug companies claim krill contains substances that can treat a range of human ailments, including heart disease, premenstrual tension, and skin cancer. Patents are pending for various krill-based medications (03O1).Fish farming currently consumes 70% of the world's fish oil supply and 34% of total fishmeal, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, with stocks in many Atlantic and Pacific fisheries already in danger of collapse. Fish feed producers are now looking at Antarctic krill to meet future demand (
03O1).85% of the world's farmed species of fish (in tonnage??) are non-carnivorous, freshwater fish (e.g. tilapia, carp, milkfish and shellfish) that eat low on the food chain (Ref. 108 of (98M7)).
Between 1986-97, 4 of the top 5, and 8 of the top 20, capture species were used for feed production for the aquaculture and livestock industries (Ref. 8 of Ref. (
00N1)). Capture species used for feed production for the aquaculture and livestock industries include anchoveta, Chilean jack mackerel, Atlantic herring, chub mackerel, Japanese anchovy, round sardinella, Atlantic mackerel and European anchovy. All are small pelagic fishes (00N1).Fishmeal and fish oil are dominant ingredients in compound feeds for carnivorous finfish and marine shrimp (
00N1).Many aquaculture operations are stocked with wild-caught finfish or shellfish post-larvae. (Wild) milkfish fry constitute only 15% of total (wild) fry collected. The remaining 85% are discarded and left to die on the beach. Thus the 1.7 billion wild fry stocked annually in Philippine milkfish aquaculture ponds results in a loss of 10 billion fry of other finfish species. In India and Bangladesh, up to 160 (wild) fish- and shrimp fry are discarded for every fry of the (wild) giant tiger shrimp collected to stock shrimp farms (Refs. 40 and 41 of Ref. (
00N1)).An estimated 0.4 kg. of fish and shrimp are lost from capture fisheries per kg. of shrimp farmed in Thai shrimp farms developed in mangroves. If other fish and shellfish species caught in waterways adjoining mangrove areas are considered, the total reduction increases to 0.447 kg. of wild fish biomass per kg. of shrimp raised. If the full range of ecological effects associated with mangrove conversion is accounted for, including reduced mollusk productivity in mangroves and losses to seagrass beds and coral reefs, the net yield from these shrimp farms is low - even without considering the use of fishmeal in aquaculture feeds (
00N1).Aquaculture cannot replace wild seafood because so much farmed seafood relies on wild fish for fishmeal. Currently a third of all fish landed globally goes into fishmeal and oil. Half (of fishmeal and oil) is used for aquaculture and half is used for agriculture. The aquaculture component is increasing rapidly because we are using fishmeal to raise carnivorous fish like salmon. If aquaculture is going to help the situation, you have to raise vegetarian fish - like carp, tilapia and shellfish - and not supplement their food with fishmeals or oils (
01U3).Fishmeal producers expect that within a decade or so, aquaculture will use up to 75-80% of all fish oil produced, and about half of the available white fishmeal (
03W2).Aquaculture's share of fish used in food consumption has risen in volume terms from 19% in 1990 to 34% in 1999. In value terms, this contribution is 39% - the ex-farm value of aquaculture (fish and shellfish) production was estimated in 1999 at approximately US$48 billion, vs. an estimated landed value of capture fisheries at US$76 billion (
03W2).The fast-growing aquaculture industry could be consuming all the world's fish oil and half of its fishmeal by 2010, up from 70% of fish oil and 34% of fishmeal now (
03W1).There won't be enough marine oil raw material for salmon feed requirements in 3-5 years. Fish oil, since El Nino in 1998, has been more expensive than soy oil. As demand for fish oil grows, the price difference between the two products will increase and soybean oil, rapeseed oil and other vegetable oils, will gradually replace fish oil as salmon feed oil raw material (
SeaWeb Aquaculture Clearinghouse, 7/6/01).Farmed salmon have a diet of 45% fishmeal and 25% fish oil (Ref. 5 of Ref. (98N3)).
One estimate for European salmon farming concluded that the production of 180,000 tonnes of fish would require the capture and conversion of 585,000 tonnes of fish to fishmeal and oil (97W1). (3.25:1)
In 1994, 4.25 million tonnes of fishmeal - 15% of global production - was devoted to feeding carnivorous fish and shellfish (97W1).
Shrimp feed contains about 30% fishmeal and 3% fish oil, and intense shrimp farming actually results in a net loss of fish protein (Ref. 5 of Ref. (98N3)).
In the North Sea, over-exploitation of many capelin, sand eel and Norway pout stocks (used mainly for reduction to fishmeal) has been implicated in the decline of other wild fish further up the food chain such as cod (Refs. 9,45,46 of Ref. (
00N1)).In Southeast Asia, small pelagic fish such as mackerel, anchovy and sardines provide important protein sources for people (Refs. 25 and 26 of Ref. (
00N1)). Comments: These are probably poorer people.One third of the fish used to make fishmeal inputs (about 10 million tonnes/ year) is converted to aquaculture feeds (Refs. 20 and 22 of Ref. (
00N1)). The remaining 2/3 of the fish (about 22 million tonnes/ year) is used to make fishmeal for chickens, pigs and other animal feeds. The proportion of fishmeal supplies used for farming fish rose from 10% in 1988 to 17% in 1994 and 33% in 1997 (Refs. 22-24 of Ref. (00N1)).The growing aquaculture industry cannot continue to rely on finite stocks of wild-caught fish, a number of which are already classified as fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted (Refs. 8 and 10 of Ref. (
00N1)).Assuming a canonical value of a 10% energy flow between trophic levels (Ref.18 of Ref. (
00N1)), producing 1 unit of predatory fish requires 10 units of food (largely small pelagic fish) compared with 2-5 units to produce a unit of farmed fish. This comparison is subject to debate, because energy flows between marine fish at different trophic levels are not well documented (00N1). Comments: This seems to be a weak counterargument.The production of one kg. of pork or poultry uses only a few hundred grams of fish (fish-meal), whereas production of one kg. of carnivorous fish can use up to 5 kg. of wild fish (Ref. 16 of (
00N1)).The poultry and swine industries are the world's largest consumer of fishmeal (Ref. 15 of Ref. (
00N1)) even though poultry and livestock feeds contain only 2-3% fishmeal as a protein supplement (00N1).For the 10 types of fish most commonly farmed, an average of 1.9 kg. of wild fish are required for every kg. of fish raised on compound feeds (
00N1).Herbivorous, omnivorous and carnivorous finfish all require about the same quantity of dietary protein per unit weight, but herbivorous and omnivorous freshwater finfish, e.g. carp, utilize plant-based protein and oils better than carnivorous finfish (
00N1).US catfish farms generally use compound feeds that contain high percentages of protein supplements from soybean meal, cottonseed meal and peanut meal (Ref. 13 of Ref. (
00N1)).80% of carp (omnivorous) and 65% of tilapa, globally, are farmed without the use of modern compound feeds - feeds formulated from multiple ingredients (
00N1). Comments: These species are more for family or local markets.Many intensive and semi-intensive aquaculture systems use 2-5 times more fish protein, in the form of fish-meal, to feed the farmed species than is supplied by the farmed product (Ref. 11 of Ref. (
00N1)).Hybrid striped bass, given high-protein feeds, reach market size of 800 grams in 10 months (98M2).
Quantity of farmed oceanic fish and shrimp raised in 1996 by using ground-up ocean fish as feed: 1 million tons. Compare this to the quantity of wild ocean fish that had to be ground up to provide the feed: 5 million tons (98M2).
Pen salmon eat fishmeal and fish oil harvested from "lesser" wild species - anchovetta, jack mackerel, menhaden and herring (97F3).
Though 1.4-1.7 lb. of fish-based feed yield one lb. of salmon, according to feed companies, it takes 2.5 lb. of wild fish to make one lb. of feed (i.e. 3.5-4.3 lb. of wild fish produce 1 lb. of farm salmon (97F3). Comments: For grain-based feed, about 2 lb. of grain produce 1 lb. of farm fish. Other data (98M2) give 5 lb. of wild fish to produce one lb. of farm fish.
Efficiency of Grain Conversion to Meat (Grain/meat conversion ratio) (85B1)
For 1.5-2.5 kg. of feed, a farmer can raise one kg. of fish (93K2). Comments: Presumably this refers to live weight of fish.
Catfish eat 2 kg. of feed to yield 1.0 kg. of live weight (Ref. 21, Chapter 5 of (94B3)).
The Chinese produced 6 million tons of fish in ponds in 1993. These fish were fed 12 million tons of grain (94B4).
An experienced salmon farmer can produce 1 kg. of salmon for every 2-2.5 kg. of moist pellet food, or 1-1.5 kg. of dry pellet food (88L1).
Farmed fish are fed fishmeal made from low-value fish such as herring and menhaden (Susan Diesenhouse, NY Times, 4/24/94).
Salmon are carnivorous and require up to 5 tons of feed fish for each ton of salmon produced (
00W2).Worldwide, about a third of the global fish harvest (30 million tons/ year) goes to non-food uses, primarily animal feed, fishmeal and oils. Of this, 17% goes to feed fish, while the balance is used to feed cattle and poultry (98M2). By 2010, carnivorous fish on farms could be taking all the world's fishmeal, using protein that could otherwise be used for direct human consumption - a redistribution of marine biological wealth from the poor to the rich (98M2).
[D3] - Aquaculture Inputs - Water -
Raising 1 ton of shrimp via intensive production requires up to 10 times more water than most other fish species (Ref. 115 of (98M7)).
Raising 1 ton of fish consumes 8 tons of water, vs. 5 tons of water per ton of pork and 8.5 tons of water per ton of grain-fed beef (Ref. 115 of (98M7)).
Intensive production of common carp and tilipa requires roughly the same amount of fresh water (8 tons/ ton of meat), as the amount needed to raise grain-fed cattle (8.5 tons water/ ton of meat) or pigs (5 tons water/ ton of meat). Intensive shrimp production requires up to 10 times more water per ton of meat (98M2). Comments: Presumably these numbers refer to consumptive uses of water.
In the Ranot region of Thailand, shrimp ponds have caused groundwater levels to drop by 4 meters during 1989-91 (98M2).
Producing 1000 tonnes of salmon produces 270-1080 tonnes of wastes, which degrade water quality and smother communities of plants and animals beneath salmon cages (97W1).
Ejidos, or land collectives, near Mexico's Sea of Cortez were created by the government for fish farms in the early 1970s. But water was insufficient. Now, with the setbacks of disease, low earnings, and other problems, the Mexican fish farms have become little more than money-laundering operations for drug dealers ("
Prawn But Not Forgotten", Grist Magazine, 7/18/02).Farmed fish production in Pakistan has suffered a severe setback due to long dry spell and shortages of water during the past 4 years, resulting in closure of many inland fish farms in Sindh. Cultured fish account for 30% of Pakistan's production, while sea catches account for 70%. Total coastline measures 1050 km. with a total fishing area of approximately 300,270 km2. Pakistan's fishing grounds are termed highly rich in marine life, with a vast variety of species having commercial value (
Mohammad Ashraf Khan, "Integrated fish farming in the planning" (Pakistan) www.FIS.com 9/02/02).- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - fi10
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(10D) Top of this Section-Aquaculture Inputs
(10C) Top of previous section-Types of Aquaculture
(10TC) Top of this Chapter-Aquaculture
(11) Top of this Review's Appendices (units, conversions, definitions)
(12) Top of this Review's Reference List
(FI) Fishery Degradation: A Global Perspective (Table of Contents)
(T) Title Page of this entire web site (visit early!)
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SECTION (10-E) - Aquaculture's Environmental Impacts -
[E1] Miscellaneous, [E2] Diseases and Parasites, [E3] Backlash, [E4] Regulation, [E5] Pollution, [E6] Genetic Degradation, [E7] Toxic Contaminants in Farmed Fish,[E1] - Environmental Impacts - Miscellaneous -
Aquaculture is responsible for the spread of invasive species worldwide (02D5) (01N1).
Aquaculture has increasingly been negatively affected by coastal development, habitat loss, and non-point-source pollution (03W2).
The early rapid expansion of shrimp farming in countries around the Bay of Bengal, elsewhere in Asia, and in Latin America caused considerable environmental and social damage. This was in large part a result of unsuitable procedures for site selection, pond construction and pond management (03W2).
There is a growing perception that much of aquaculture production leads to environmental damage. This is not correct for many aquaculture activities. Molluscs, seaweed and most forms of carp culture, for example, have only a very limited impact on aquatic environments. These species account for more than half of world aquaculture production (03W2). Comments: This portion of aquaculture production is usually consumed in the developing world.
The collapse of effective regulation has given free rein to fish farming practices, which now jeopardize both the ecology of Scotland's rivers and the industry itself (Stephanie Roth, "The horrors of intensive salmon farming", The Ecologist, June 2001).
Some types of aquaculture (including shrimp and salmon -carnivorous species) could further deplete wild fishery stocks through habitat destruction, waste disposal, exotic species- and pathogen invasions, large fish meal- and fish oil requirements (Ref. 2 of Ref. (00N1)). For other aquaculture species such as carp and molluscs (herbivorous or filter-feeders), the net contribution to global fish supplies is great (Ref. 3 of Ref. (00N1)). Comments: It is not clear that the net contribution to global food supplies is positive however, in view of the large demands for level land and seed supplies (soy beans, cottonseed, peanuts). (Aquaculture farms occupy thousands of square miles of land, and the "footprint" of aquacultural activity can be up to 50,000 times the physical area of the farm itself according to Suzanne Giles <sgiles@americanoceans.org> 3/1/01 and http://www.fao.org/fi/default.asp http://cesp.stanford.edu/
A report published in the journal Nature finds that commercial fish farms are having a "disastrous impact on both the environment and stocks of wild fish". Fish farm impacts include wetland conversion, pollution, escape of farmed species and the use of "huge quantities of wild fish" for fishmeal. According to Toronto Globe and Mail of 6/29/00, every kg. of farmed salmon produced requires 5 kg. of wild fish. (GREENLines, Issue #1163, Endangered Species Coalition, 6/30/00) (BBC News, 6/28/00).
Shrimp- and salmon farming constitute two of the most resource-intensive food production systems in the world (98M2).
Shrimp farming in Asia and Central America is seen as inherently unsustainable and destructive, an example of industrial aquaculture gone awry (97F3).
Often mangrove swamps or estuaries are converted to aquaculture, and this entails a reduction in catches of wild fish species (Ref. 23, Ch.5 of (94B3)).
Volunteers in the Philippines, Thailand, India, and Ecuador are replanting mangrove areas to repair earlier damage from shrimp farming (99M1).
For the consumer, the growth of aquaculture has meant the replacement of lean, nutritious meat with soft, fatty meat containing traces of drugs and pesticides. Farm salmon is not even red - it must be dyed that color (97M1).
[E2] - Environmental Impacts - Diseases and Parasites -
Scientists have published the strongest evidence yet that west coast salmon farms are the source of sea lice infestations that can spread up to 3 miles (Rob Crilly, "Salmon farms are source of sea lice, say scientists (UK)", The Herald, July 30 2004).
Imported Californian feedfish declared safe by Australian authorities and used in Port Lincoln tuna farms have a history of infecting North American fish with a devastating virus, industry groups say. Biosecurity Australia has moved to lift quarantine measures on imported frozen Californian pilchards and mackerel, saying the fish are a "very low risk" of spreading Viral Haemorrhagic Septicaemia virus. The VHS (Viral Haemorrhagic Septicaemia) virus is known to have infected 23 species of finfish in North America, and there have been more outbreaks in Canada ("Fish virus ruling challenged" (Australia) The Advertiser,
www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6854303%255E2682,00.html
Aug 3, 2003).
(General) Many antibiotics mixed with feed tend not to be absorbed by the fish and are excreted unchanged in an active form in the feces. Depending on the antibiotic used, 60-85% of the drug can be excreted through the feces unchanged. As with antibiotics, data on the amount of pesticide used in the salmon aquaculture industry are not available except for Norway (01U1).
(General) Studies find that the spread of parasites and other pathogenic organisms increase with continuous use of a site for culturing salmon (97W1).
(General) When wastes from cultivated shrimp are released into a bay, wild shrimp are destroyed (98M2).
(Latin America) The White Spot Virus, a fatal shrimp disease from Asia is now spreading through Latin America. It was first detected in shrimp culture ponds in Honduras and soon after in Ecuador, Mexico and Panama. It also threatens the health of Latin America's wild shrimp. 70% of shrimp production in Ecuador is contaminated (99M6).
(Canada) The federal (Canadian) Department of Fisheries and Oceans plans to monitor the level of sea lice on stocks of wild pink salmon migrating through the Broughton Archipelago, east of Vancouver Island. The plan was in response to the plunging numbers of pink salmon returning to spawn in the area in 2002 when only 147,000 adult fish returned to breed, vs. 3.6 million in 2000 (Nicholas Read, "Act now on fish farms, scientists say", Vancouver Sun 2/25/03).
(Canada - Vancouver) Fish farms are likely the cause of a devastating outbreak of sea lice that threatens millions of juvenile wild salmon around northern Vancouver Island, according to local experts. The outbreak was discovered in the Broughton Archipelago about a month ago. An estimated 400 million wild salmon smolts will likely die as a result of the infestation. Sea lice are one of the most serious problems facing the salmon farming industry worldwide. Outbreaks on farmed salmon are common and are known to cause high mortality. Major outbreaks have occurred in Norway, Scotland and Ireland, where farmed salmon operations have been in place for years and wild salmon stocks have crashed. Sea lice do occur on wild salmon, but are normally present in low numbers and have seldom been observed in any number on juveniles. Outbreaks like the current one are associated with dense crowding of salmon as occurs in net cage farms (01R1). A survey revealed 34% of the fish are infected at a lethal load. "Based on predicted migration of 12 billion juvenile pink salmon out to the sea over the next few weeks, over 400 million young salmon will likely die as a result of the infestation" (01R1).
(Canada - British Columbia) According to a British Columbia-based industry trade magazine, Northern Aquaculture (2000), B.C. salmon farmers used an average of 165 g. of active antibiotic ingredients to produce 1 tonnes of salmon in 1996. This level of antibiotic use translated to approximately 66 tonnes of antibiotics used in B.C. on total farmed salmon production of 40,500 tonnes in 1996 (01U1).
(Canada - New Brunswick) Since March 1998, New Brunswick salmon growers have slaughtered more than 1.2 million salmon under provincial government orders in an effort to contain an outbreak of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) (98M6). The farmed-salmon sector, about 25% of the industry was shut down for the 1998 season by the ISA epidemic. The disease, which suppresses the immune system and leaves the fish vulnerable to infection, exists at low levels in the wild. Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) was first detected in the Bay of Fundy before 1998, and has since flared up, apparently thriving in the breeding grounds offered by the net cages that hold densely packed salmon under intense feeding and growing regimes (98M6). Scottish scientists have confirmed that thousands of wild sea trout in Northwest Scotland have been killed by diseases originating in commercial salmon farms. In response, infected salmon have been doused with chemicals to rid them of sea lice, one of the vectors that transmit ISA. However, some sea lice have developed a resistance to the pesticides, which may lead authorities to approve more toxic substitutes. ISA outbreaks in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Norway cost $100 million in economic losses (98M6).
(Ireland) Parasites that find ideal breeding conditions in densely packed salmon farms and then spread into the wild have been blamed for destroying the wild sea-trout fishery in Ireland (03R1).
(Ireland) Irish stocks of wild sea trout dropped over 90% in 1989 due to infestation of sea lice attributed to salmon farming that begin around 1985 (Ref. 23, Ch. 5 of (94B3)).
(Ireland) Ireland has seen (wild) fisheries collapse in every loch in which there are salmon farms (97M1).
(Ireland) A disease which caused severe damage to fish farms in Norway, Canada and Scotland has been detected for the first time in Ireland - at a farm in Clew Bay, Co Mayo. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has confirmed that positive indication of Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) was isolated during routine testing by the Marine Institute on 8/1/02, but stresses that there is no evidence of a clinical outbreak to date (Salmon virus detected in Clew Bay fish farm (Ireland)The Irish Times www.ireland.com/ August 12, 2002).
(Scotland) In Scotland, most of the 350 farms are in the northwest - once one of the world's top destinations for sea trout anglers. Since the 1980s the sea trout - a migratory brown salmonid that feeds at sea and spawns in freshwater - has become increasingly elusive. Scotland government figures show angler catches in the region have dropped 80% in the last 20 years. "It's only where there are no fish farms around river mouths that wild stocks remain healthy," said Peter Cunningham, a biologist for the Wester Ross Fisheries Trust. "Our understanding from data we've collected is that sea lice infestations are the major problem faced by young sea trout." These sentiments are echoed by the World Wildlife Fund in Scotland. This new evidence reinforces WWF's call a year ago for an immediate moratorium on any further expansion of the industry until a proper strategy is put in place. Scottish Quality Salmon, the industry's promotional body, believes such talk is an overreaction. Communications Director Julie Edgar says that since the Shieldaig study was completed last year a new sea lice treatment has proved extremely effective in combating the parasites, without harming the environment or compromising consumer safety. The treatment, called Slice, has been approved by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The agency has also speeded up the application process for its use on fish farms (James Owen, "Sea Trout Loss Linked to Salmon Farm Parasite" (UK), National Geographic News, 10/22/02).
(Scotland) Scientists have discovered a direct link between the explosion of sea lice in farmed fish populations and the decline of Scottish sea trout. The findings follow a two-year study in the western Highlands where wild sea trout share coastal waters with penned salmon. Earlier studies suggested that unnaturally high levels of sea lice can devastate wild stocks. Researchers in Norway at the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research found that up to 86% of young wild salmon in fjords containing fish farms die from lice infestations (James Owen, "Sea Trout Loss Linked to Salmon Farm Parasite" (UK), National Geographic News, 10/22/02).
(Scotland) Fears that salmon farming in Scotland is threatening wild fish populations have been confirmed. New research has found that a plague of sea lice found in farmed salmon cages is infecting wild fish with disastrous results. Scottish Executive scientists have discovered 'clouds' of sea lice near the mouth of the River Shieldaig in Wester Ross. A study of fish stocks has discovered that the wild salmon population in the River Shieldaig is now 'effectively extinct'. It found there were also high levels of sea lice infestation of trout introduced into the river as part of a project to rejuvenate the wild fish population. The research makes clear that the presence of sea lice close to the shoreline correlated exactly with infestations seen in nearby salmon cages. The study was presented to experts at a conference in Denmark yesterday by a Scottish team based at the Aberdeen marine laboratory of the Fisheries Research Service. Research on the presence of sea lice in waters at the mouth of the river found none in 2000 when nearby fish farms were in their first year of production. But the report states: 'In 2001, when nearby fish farms were in the second year of their production cycle, very large numbers of sea lice were found at the mouth of the Shieldaig. The team found 25% of young sea trout examined in the mouth of the river in 2001 were infested with sea lice. During June this rose to more than 50% (02S1).
(Scotland) A serious salmon disease that affected over half Scotland's fish farms in 2001 could be spreading at twice the rate in 2002. The Scottish Executive issued orders for 325 cases of Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN) last year, when cases were up from 180 in 1998. He claims that the Executive's figures, plus information contained in the Edinburgh Gazette, show that in 2002 farms are being infected at nearly three times the rate that they are being cleared of disease. Shetland has accounted for over a third (37%) of new disease orders over the last year. While the Western Isles (20%), Orkney (5%) and Skye (3%) are all showing increases. In Shetland, IPN wiped out 10% of last yearıs smolt intake - 1.4 million fish. Some farms have lost as much as 80% of smolts and it's been predicted the cost to Shetland's economy could be more than GBP 2 million ("Salmon disease spiralling on Scottish farms", The Irish Times, 8/19/02).
(Scotland) Cancer of the Coast accuses SEPA of licensing a disaster. Staniford, who has made an 8-year study of Scottish fish farming, said that SEPA is considering over 300 pending license applications to use anti-sea lice chemicals. These sea lice chemicals are designed for use on land animals like sheep, cattle, chickens and pigs. But they are extremely toxic to marine life (02M1).
(Scotland) The government's environmental watchdog in Scotland has been accused of "state-sponsored pollution" after licensing a massive increase in the use of toxic chemicals in salmon farming. The number of licenses to use chemicals in the £700 million salmon industry agreed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has increased sevenfold in the past four years. The chemicals are increasingly used to kill sea lice which plague farmed salmon. But as well as being poisonous to marine life, some are also under investigation for links to diseases in humans, including cancer. But environmentalists say chemicals to combat sea lice are being used in greater amounts because salmon are being farmed more intensively (02M1). The North region of SEPA - where most of Scotland's fish farms are located -approved 45 uses of sea lice chemicals in 1998, 104 in 1999, 141 in 2000 and 296 in 2001. The agency's other division, SEPA West, approved a further 71 in the same period. In the same four-year period farmed salmon production increased from 110,784 to 158,000 tonnes in 2001 (02M1).
(Norway) In Norway, parasite infestations were so bad, the government poisoned dozens of rivers and streams to get rid of them (03R1).
(Norway) In 1989, 6.78 tonnes of organophosphates were used in Norway. The use of these and other pesticides administered in bath treatments declined to approximately 200 kg. in 1998. This decline in organophosphates does not reflect a decrease in sea lice infestation but rather a shift from pesticides applied by bath treatment to the use of pesticides mixed with feed. In 1998, 1.76 tonnes of benzoylphenyl ureas were mixed with fish feed versus zero in 1996 and 770 kg. in 1997 (01U1).
(Norway) Antibiotic use in Norway dropped from 48,000 kg./ year in 1987 to 680 kg./ year in 1998. Salmon production for the same period increased from 60,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes (01U1).
(Norway) Norway that keeps meticulous records of therapeutants used in the aquaculture industry and makes them public. The Canadian government and the aquaculture industry does not (01U1).
(US) 204,000-433,000 pounds of antibiotics are used annually in the production of seafood sold in the US. This includes antibiotics from the same classes that doctors depend on for treating sick humans. There is also a remarkable lack of information about the amount of fish farm drug use in the US. There is no official reporting system of antibiotic use in aquaculture, despite recent scientific developments that have increased the potency of these drugs. The report found that total catfish antibiotic use is estimated at 126,000-252,000 pounds a year. Trout and salmon production account for 63,000-104,600 pounds/ year, with use in salmon production rising. Use in other species is 15,200-76,000 pounds/ year. While drug use on a poundage basis has declined, drugs that are more potent at smaller dosages are being used in aquaculture. Antibiotic use is frequently used in fish farms because over-crowding accelerates the spread of disease. There is little enforcement by US regulators in checking imported seafood for antibiotic levels. Over 68% of all seafood consumed in the US is imported, most of which is industrially produced. Fish, and especially shrimp, produced in industrial farms in other countries face even fewer regulations than the US. The full report, "Antibiotic Drug Use in US Aquaculture," can be downloaded at: www.iatp.org (02B1).
(Taiwan) During 1965-85, shrimp farms in Taiwan intensified production from 140 to 360 tons per km2. By the late 1980s, the aquaculture industry in Taiwan had completely collapsed due to a series of disease outbreaks and financial disasters, leaving behind a devastated landscape (Ref. 120 of (98M7)) (98M2).
[E3] - Environmental Impacts - Backlash -
On the West Coast of the US, in British Columbia and in Scotland, consumers are boycotting cultured salmon and declaring the fish "Farmed and Dangerous" because of both environmental damage and potential health effects (03R1).
Entire townships in Scotland, trying to rid highly valued waters of farms, have resorted to vandalism (97M1).
[E4] - Environmental Impacts - Regulation -
The B.C. (British Columbia) government amended its aquaculture regulations in October 2000 to require that "mesh size of netting must be small enough to contain the smallest fish in a population of fish placed in the net pen." However, in a recent report for the David Suzuki Foundation, John Volpe, associate professor of fisheries ecology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, said a prevailing "educated guess" among scientists puts leakage from net pens at 0.5-1.0%/ year. Based on 1999 production figures, he calculated, that would represent up to 110,800 Atlantic salmon, 25,300 Chinook, and 5,900 Coho - all in addition to those officially reported (02P1). Alaska's Piorkowski said he and a department colleague learned about deliberate leakage while attending an Atlantic salmon workshop sponsored by Canada's fisheries department at the University of B.C. in early 2001, several months after B.C. approved its net-mesh amendment. (Norway representatives reported the same leakage problem in their own country, he said). "It came from the industry," Piorkowski said. "They said 3-5% so if you grow 10 million Atlantic salmon, that would be 300,000-500,000 salmon essentially being deliberately released. You don't want to feed them anymore because they aren't going to grow fast enough to get to market. "We were really shocked at the meeting when this was looked at as just a normal, acceptable practice. Eventually, with most animal populations, with leakage like this, there's a fair chance they'll get established." (02P1)
(Norway) According to the Norwegian government, five salmon farms must relocate to protect wild salmon stocks. The green paper also proposes restrictions on salmon farming in 22 fjords and protective measures for 39 salmon rivers. There are 60 salmon farms in restricted areas ("Norway fish farms must relocate to protect wild salmon" 7/2/01 http://fis.com/fis/worldnews/ SeaWeb Aquaculture Clearinghouse, 7/6/01).
Norway has stopped building salmon net cages in coastal waters (98M2).
Norway banned salmon farms in some areas (03R1).
Egypt has banned the diversion of water for fish-farming (98M2).
China now prohibits converting arable land to aquaculture ponds (98M2).
Honduras has instituted a moratorium on new shrimp farms (98M2).
Scotland may relocate salmon farms because of impacts on sensitive coastal areas (03R1).
Scotland has stopped building salmon net cages in coastal waters (98M2).
India has banned shrimp farms within 500 meters of the high-tide zone (98M2).
[E5] - Environmental Impacts - Pollution
As much as 70% of total phosphorous and 80% of total nitrogen fed to fish may be released into the water column through organic wastes (96B3) and approximately 80% of those nutrients are available to plants and may contribute to eutrophication (97T1).
Residues of an illegal, highly toxic fungicide formerly used to clean fish farm cages are still being detected in salmon on sale to the public in Scotland, according to tests carried out by a government agency. Malachite green is a carcinogenic agent that was banned by the Scottish Executive in June last year following discussions between the UK and the European Commission. The chemical is a synthetic fabric dye but was used by the industry because it kills parasites on the sea cage pens in which the fish are farmed. Suspected of causing genetic mutations that can lead to malignant tumors in humans, it has now been replaced by an alternative, pyceze (James Reynolds, "Contaminated salmon on sale to public" (UK) www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=844672003, The Scotsman, 8/5/03).
(General) Only 20% of the food thrown to farmed fish is consumed; the rest turns to sludge on the sea floor, drastically changing the local ecosystem (SeaWeb Aquaculture Clearinghouse, 7/6/01).
(General) When waste from fish-rearing ponds is dumped on the ground, coconut trees turn brown and well waters go bad (98M2).
(General) 300-1000 kg. of solid wastes are produced from each 1000 kg. of farm-fish production (98M2). These wastes from intensive fish farming can cause over-nutrification and algae blooms that precipitate bacteria growth, deplete oxygen, and kill fish life (98M2).
(Thailand) More than 90% of the shrimp farms in the upper Gulf of Thailand (most of which are located on converted mangrove swamps) were deserted after 2 seasons because too much waste built up and clogged the pond (Ref. 120 of (98M7)).
(Bay of Fundy) New Brunswick environmentalists who surveyed the sea bottom beneath an abandoned salmon farm in the Bay of Fundy say the buildup of chemicals, pesticides and fecal matter has turned the area into a wasteland. Milewski released underwater video footage shot in August at the Crow Harbor site near St. George, New Brunswick., where a salmon farm recently ceased its operations. Shooting directly below the area where the cages used to be on a large, 19-hectare site, the council's cameras recorded a scene of deep-sea desolation with little in the way of marine life. Measurements of sediments showed the effects of contamination by hundreds of tonnes of salmon fecal matter, as well as chemicals and pesticides. There wasn't nearly as much marine life compared to a nearby, farm-free area used as a control site. The 93 salmon farms in southwestern New Brunswick are producing the equivalent to fecal waste from 89,611 people (Chris Morris, "N.B. environmentalists warn salmon farms turn Fundy seabed into wasteland", Canadian Press, 11/12/02).
(Chile) A massive "red tide" (algal bloom) that paralyzed shellfish farms near Puerto Montt in southern Chile is regarded by some as further evidence of the effects of salmon farming. The algal bloom has been causing chaos since the end of March, particularly around the Chiloé Island area. There are 240 shellfish farms around Chiloé alone. The bloom produces toxins that give rise to paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in bivalve mollusks such as oysters, mussels, sea asparagus and clams. It has spread from further south in Chile and the health authorities have closed all shellfish landing ports and introduced controls on beaches, production and processing areas and on the roads ("Red tide spreads chaos", (Chile) www.FIS.com 4/12/02).
(Chile)A report by the Terram Foundation, a sustainable development think tank in Santiago, says 75% of fish feed used at Chilean salmon farms and tons of feces wind up in the waters below offshore pens, depleting oxygen necessary for survival of surrounding marine life (02U1).
(Norway) Waste produced by farmed salmon in Norway is roughly equal to the sewage produced by Norway's 4 million people (00W2).
[E6] - Environmental Impacts - Genetic Degradation -
Since the aquaculture industry began in earnest in the 1980s, an estimated 10 million salmon have escaped into the wild (06M1).
During Hurricane Mitch in 1998, 50,000 acres of shore-based shrimp farms in Honduras were flooded and washed into the Gulf of Fonseca, where wild varieties of the same shrimp live (06M1).
In a 10-year study, researchers from Ireland, Northern Island and Scotland, found that wild salmon were vulnerable to extinction because of genetic and competitive pressures from farmed fish. Experiments with wild and farmed salmon hybrids in fresh and marine water showed that the offspring of fish that had interbred had a much lower survival rate - some 70% of the fish died in the first few weeks of life. Overall, farmed salmon were much less successful at surviving in the wild compared with native salmon and were unlikely to return to rivers to spawn. However, they grew quicker than wild salmon and the ones that did survive displaced many of their wild cousins from the rivers. An estimated two million Atlantic salmon escape each year from fish farms in the North Atlantic - equivalent to half the total number of wild adult salmon in the sea ("Farm threat to wild salmon" (new report in Royal Society Proceedings B) BBC News, www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3195062.stm 10/20/03).
(Scotland) Scotland's wild salmon population is being driven to extinction by the escape of more than 1 million farmed fish into the country's lochs and rivers. Experts claim wild salmon stocks could be bred out of existence within 30 years because they are being swamped by the farmed species. A 10-year study published in May 2002 is expected to show that escaped salmon reduce the survival chances of wild stock by competing for food. It also confirms that interbreeding produces weaker offspring. Experts believe the true number of escaped salmon may be even higher than government figures show because fish farmers are not currently obliged to report escapes. In 1985 the salmon farming industry produced 6,921 tonnes of salmon (in Scotland). By 2000, production was 130,000 tonnes (Mark Macaskill, The Sunday Times (UK) 4/14/02).
(Alaska) Alaska has banned salmon farming since 1990, concerned that Atlantic salmon pose a threat to wild Pacific stocks should they transfer diseases and parasites, or become established and compete for food and spawning beds. The first Atlantic salmon was recovered in Alaskan seawaters in 1990. Since then, almost 600 have been documented by the Department of fish and game. The Alaska white-paper report released 2/27/02 to the Fish and Game Department's Web site, www.ak.gov/adfg/ (02P1)
B.C. (British Columbia) salmon farms have been practicing "biological pollution" by deliberately allowing the annual escape of hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon, charges a report by the Alaska department of fish and game of 2/27/02. "We're talking about several million fish being lost over the last 10 years certainly." The white-paper report, prepared by half a dozen biologists in the fish and game department, contends that when B.C. fish farms replace their nets with larger mesh, they knowingly allow the escape of "small or slow-growing" fish that would be uneconomical to raise to full size. The practice is routine in the industry to reduce the amount of net area that can become fouled with algae, thereby reducing maintenance costs. According to the state's report: "Deliberate release of 'non-performing' fish - estimated at 3-5% of production - totals hundreds of thousands of fish annually. This number is neither precisely known nor reported (02P1). The report says the introductions of non-native species have frequently resulted in unexpected and often catastrophic consequences from habitat destruction, disease or parasites, hybridization, reproductive proliferation, and predation and competition." B.C. has 121 fish farm licenses, with 91 operating sites (Washington has 11 salmon farms in Puget Sound) and has received the provincial green light for unlimited expansion, all the way to Prince Rupert near the Alaskan border, effective 4/30/02 (02P1).
Transgenic salmon could threaten wild population with lethal `Trojan gene'. Tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon in giant tanks on Prince Edward Island have been genetically engineered to get to marketable size at least four times faster than ordinary farmed salmon. Two reports in Canada in 2001 raise new concerns about commercial production of such "transgenic" salmon. One study by Royal Society of Canada concludes federal regulations are inadequate to ensure environmental safety if transgenic fish are reared commercially. The other study, research reported in a federal (Canadian?) government scientific journal, warned that even a few transgenic fish could wipe out wild populations if they escape from rearing pens. The panel urged a moratorium on rearing transgenic fish in coastal pens. An expert in population genetics at Indiana's Purdue University says that transgenic fish may conceal an enemy. In lab tests with medaka, a Japanese fish, male transgenic medaka had a mating advantage over wild males because they grew bigger sooner. But their offspring from wild female medaka did not survive as well to sexual maturity, a side effect of the inserted growth hormone. A computer model forecast that 60 transgenic fish introduced into a population of 60,000 wild medaka would bring extinction in only 40 generations. The Canadian Journal Of Fisheries, North America's leading fish research magazine, published a mathematical proof of the Trojan gene theory. Wild Atlantic salmon are already endangered on the East coast (Peter Calamai, "Frankenfish open a can of worries", Toronto Star, 7/21/01).
(Scotland) The startling decline in wild Scottish salmon is being blamed on pollution and interbreeding between wild and farmed salmon (The Economist, www.economist.com, June 23/01).
(Canada) Farm fish escapes are down from the early 1990s when about 300,000/ year were escaping. Tougher standards and better education have reduced that to fewer than 50,000/ year. (Companies are now required to have divers check for holes monthly, and maintain written records.) ("Salmon escape from farm tank poses threat to wild fish stocks", Times Colonist (Victoria) 6/15/01).
[E7] - Environmental Impacts - Toxic Contaminants in Farmed Fish -
Molyneaux's book cites studies that find high levels of PCBs in farmed salmon, plus other organic pollutants "10 times higher" than levels in wild fish (06M1).
A November 2000 study by the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Animal nutrition found than among the many animal feed ingredients studied, fishmeal and fish oil were the most heavily contaminated with dioxins and PCBs (00E1). The committee is now considering measures to limit dioxin and PCB levels in human food and animal feed. A small Canadian study found that a single serving of farmed salmon contains 3-6 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily intake limit for dioxins and PCBs (01E1).
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